Building construction



June 5 H. E. SNEDEKER BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 6. 1967 lNVENTOR HERBERT E. SNEDEKER A 7'TORNE V United States Patent 3,449,875 BUHJDING CONSTRUCTION Herbert Elmer Snedeker, Savannah, Ga. (233 Micanopy Court, Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. 32935) Filed Apr. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 628,977 Int. Cl. E04c 5/08 US. Cl. 52227 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention relates to an improved method and arrangement of building construction and, more particularly to an improved method and arrangement of building construction employing simple and economical building block members. It has for a general object thereof the provision of a simple, practical and economical method and arrangement of building construction which minimizes or eliminates the need for skilled carpentry.

There has been a significant resurgence of interest recently in the construction of vacation homes, cabins, lodges, resort structures and the like. Numerous methods and arrangements of building construction have been employed in such structures, the most common being the well-known wood frame construction utilized in most home construction today. Conventional wood frame construction, as well as the majority of other known building construction arrangements, requires the exercise of considerable carpentry skill on the part of those erecting the structure. As a consequence, the labor costs often exceed the material costs in known building construction methods and arrangements.

Where attempts have been made heretofore to eliminate or minimize the need for skilled labor in building construction, such as through the use of various types of pie-manufactured or pre-fabricated building block components, the results have been less than satisfactory, In particular, any savings in skilled labor have been oflFset by the costly machining and fabrication required in the manufacture of the building components to ensure the rigidity and tightness of the structure constructed therefrom. For example, tongue and groove complements have been machined into the building block components for making horizontal and vertical joints, corners have been constructed via expensive dovetailing of portions of the building components, spring-loaded splines have been used at the joints, etc. Moreover, some of the prior build ing construction methods and arrangements, though eliminating the requirements for carpentry skill, give rise to a requirement for considerable dexterity and skill in assembling the components into a rigid, durable and attractive building structure.

Manifestly, a real need exists in the building construction art for a simple and economical method and arrangement of construction particularly suitable for the above-mentioned type of buildings in which the structure can be erected with ease and facility by relatively unskilled individuals.

Summary of the invention It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an improved method and arrangement of building con- "ice struction using a simple and economical assemblage of building block members to form a rigid, durable and low cost structure without the need for skilled carpentry.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved method and arrangement of building construction using building components which are susceptable of simple and economical manufacture, requiring no complex machining or manipulation.

A more particular object of this invention is to provide an improved InethOd and arrangement of building construction using simple building components which provide rigid weathertight joints without any need for tongue and groove, mortise and tenon, dovetail or other complex machining of the components.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a rigid and durable building structure that minimizes both initial cost and maintenance cost.

In accordance with the present invention these and other objects are attained in a building construction method and arrangement employing elongated building block members, generally rectangular or trapezoidal in crosssection, which are placed lengthwise one on top of the other to construct the building walls. Aligned vertical holes in the building block members engage tie rods secured in the wall foundation to ensure the rigidity of the wall. The tie rods are capped off with fasteners, such as nuts, to place the wall building block members under slight compression.

The ends of the building block members are rabbeted for making corner joints and intermediate wall joints. The end rabbets may be cut into the building block members readily at the building site, or they may be fabricated advantageously in advance without any requirement for complex machining or manipulation of the building block members. The simplicity of the building block members and of the jointing thereof facilitates use of my invention with any plan or architectural design.

According to a further aspect of my invention, weatherstripping material is provided between adjacent building block members to ensure the weather-tightness of the building structure. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, sealing compound and a compressible material are employed for Weatherstripping the horizontal joints between adjacent building block members. Intermediate wall joints are weatherstripped in the illustrative embodiment via material inserted in slots provided in the ends of the building block members forming the intermediate joints.

An advantage of building construction following the principles of my invention, yielding further economies and savings in time and labor, is that the interior and exterior wall surfaces are erected simultaneously and as a part of the wall structure. This permits these surfaces of the building block members to be prefinished using any of the known finishing materials and techniques, such as painting, staining, chemical coating, etc. The building block members may also be pretreated advantageously with suitable wood preservatives if desired.

Brief description of the drawing The above and other objects and features of the present invention may be fully apprehended from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of an illustrative building constructed in accordance with the priciples of my invention showing the exterior wall and corner construction;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the illustrative building of BIG. 1 showing an interior wall assembly attached to an exterior wall; and

FIG. 3 a top plan view of a section of the interior and exterior walls of an illustrative building constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention.

Detailed description of the invention A portion of a building structure is illustrated in the drawing such as might be used for a vacation home, cabin, lodge or the like, although the present invention is adapted for advantageous use in the construction of other types of buildings. The portion of the building structure shown in FIG. 1 includes a part of two exterior walls which meet to form a corner of the building. The walls of the building structure are erected on any usual foundation, such as on concrete footings 13 shown in the drawing, which may be a part of a concrete floor slab upon which the building is constructed.

The exteriod walls shown in FIG. 1 are constructed of individual building block members 15 of any suitable material such as wood. The excellent insulating characteristics of wood make it particularly suited for this purpose, but it will be apparent from the description herein that building block members 15 are adapted to be readily fabricated from plastic, fiberglass, or other materials suited to the purpose of the particular building structure. Each building block member 15 has an upper face 1-6 and a lower face 17 which are substantially parallel to each other, an inner face 18 which may be perpendicular to face 16 and 17, and an outer face 19. Outer face 19 may be perpendicular to faces 16 and 17 as shown in the drawing, or it may take any other shape to give the desired exterior appearance to the building structure. For example, outer face 19 may be inclined outwardly from top to bottom to present a clapboard appearance, or face 19 may be convex to present a log cabin appearance, or one or both of the upper and lower edges of face 19 may be beveled to present a horizontal grooved appearance.

Building block members 15 may be dimensionally of any size convenient to the particular application. I have found a convenient size to be on the order of four inches thick by six to eight inches high. The length of members 15 may be perhaps anywhere from six feet on up as desired. The particular size of building block members 15 forms no part of the present invention.

An exterior wall is thus constructed, as shown in FIG. 1, by placing building block members 15 one on top of the other until the desired height of the wall is reached. To ensure the rigidity of the constructed wall, two or more vertical apertures 20 may be provided in each member 15, aligned so as to engage tie rods 21. Tie rods 21 are secured in footings 13 in any conventional manner and may advantageously comprise two or more sections of convenient lengths which are attached together as the wall is constructed. After the last building block member 15 is positioned at the top of the wall, a fastener such as nut 22 is secured On the threaded end of each tie rod 21 so as to hold the wall building block members 15 under slight compression. In areas of frequent high winds a bond beam 25 can be added to the top of the wall, as shown in FIG. 1, and nuts 22 tightened snugly against bond beam 25. Bond beam 25 may comprise, for example, concrete material reinforced with metal rods 26.

Between each vertically adjacent building block member 15 a sealing material is provided to ensure that the walls are weathertight against wind and water. Although a sealing material will not be necessary in many applications, where it is desired it can be provided conveniently during construction of the walls, for example, by placing between each adjacent member 15 a strip of compressible material, such as felt paper 30. Further, a sealing compound 31 may be applied on each side of the compressible material, or compound 31 may be applied directly to members 15 without the use of felt paper 30.

During the erection of the exterior walls of the building structure, two types of joints will be encountered-corner joints and intermediate joints. In accordance with the principles of my invention, both corner joints and intermediate joints are constructed with a minimum requirement for carpentry skill and without a need for expensive machining or building block members 15, while ensuring the tightness, rigidity and durability of the resulting structure. A simple rabbet joint is used both at the corners and at intermediate wall junctures. The rabbet joint is adapted readily to on-site fabrication or lends itself to economical prefabrication of building block members 15. In particular, it will be appreciated from the description herein that building block members 15 can be fabricated in several standard lengths so as to permit on-site construction with a minimum of cutting of members 15.

A typical intermediate joint 40 is shown in FIG. 1 and in plan view in FIG. 3. Slots 41, e.g., saw kerfs, are provided in abutting ends of members 15, into which suitable weatherstripping material, such as one or more galvanized metal strips 42, is inserted for a weathertight joint. Holes 45 may be drilled through block members 15 at the inner ends of slots 41 to prevent splitting of members 15 when strips 42 are inserted. Although slots 41 are depicted in the drawing as being provided in only the ends of members 15 defining intermediate joint 40, for the purposes of standardized prefabrication of members 15 slots 41 may be provided advantageously in both ends of members 15, thereby eliminating the necessity for forming slots 41 during construction.

A typical corner joint 50 is also depicted in FIG. 1 and in plan view in FIG. 3. Advantageously, as shown illustratively in FIG. 1, at each level the building block member 15 extending to edge 51 of corner 50 is alternately situated in one wall and then the other of the two walls forming the corner. Interleaving or interlocking of members 15 in this manner at the corner joints produces tight and rigid corners. To further ensure the tightness and rigidity of the corner joints, and to provide an attractive exterior appearance, corner boards such as corner board 55 are secured to members 15 by any suitable fastener. Only an outside right angle corner joint 50 is shown in FIG. 1. However, it will be apparent that an inside corner joint may be constructed readily in the same manner, as well as a corner joint formed by members 15 meeting at any angle other than ninety degrees. No Weatherstripping material, such as strips 42, is required at the corner joints, though it may be provided in a manner similar to the intermediate joints if desired.

Interior walls, in accordance with my invention, are constructed as shown in FIG. 2., in a manner similar to the exterior walls, using interior building block members 61. Interior building block members 61 may be substantially identical to building block members 15, except that the former will generally be rectangular in cross-section whereas the latter may or may not be, depending upon the desired exterior appearance. Apertures 62 are provided in building block members 61 to engage tie rods 63- secured in interior wall footings or in the floor of the building structure. Fasteners, such as nuts 64, are attached to the threaded ends of tie rods 63, so as to place members 61 under slight compression.

The manner of attaching an interior wall to an exterior wall in illustratively depicted at joint 60 in FIG. 2 and in plan view in FIG. 3. Spline 70 is attached to the exterior wall in any convenient manner such as via lag screws 71. Notch 65 in one end of each of building block members 61 engages spline 70 to secure the interior wall to the exterior wall. One interior wall is attached to another interior wall in the same manner. Interior corner joints are constructed in substantially the same manner as corner joint 50 described above.

What has been disclosed hereinabove, therefore, is a simple and inexpensive method and arrangement of building construction which minimizes the need for skilled labor through the use of simple building block members and simple jointing of the members. The disclosed building construction arrangement is not limited to any particular architectural design or plan and, inasmuch as all walls are load bearing, lends itself to the erection of any known type of roof. It is to be understood, therefore, that the above-described arrangements are but illustrative of the application of the principles of my invention. Numerous other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A building construction comprising a base foundation, a plurality of substantially identical elongated building block members having substantially parallel upper and lower surfaces for abutting vertically adjacent ones of said building block members, vertical rabbets in the ends of said building block members adapted for jointing with the ends of horizontally abutting ones of said building block members selectively in a line to form a wall or at an angle to form a corner, vertically extending apertures in each of said building block members aligned with corresponding apertures in vertically adjacent ones of said building block members, tie rod means rigidly secured in said base foundation and adapted to engage said aligned apertures in said building block members, means including said tie rod means for placing said vertically adjacent ones of said building block members under compression, compressible Weatherstripping means disposed intermediate the upper and lower surfaces of vertically adjacent ones of said building block members, vertically extending slots in the ends of each of said building block members aligned with corresponding slots in vertically adjacent ones of said building block members and further aligned with corresponding slots in the ends of said horizontally abutting ones of said building block members, and Weatherstripping material adapted to engage said aligned slots.

2. A building construction comprising a base founda- 3 tion, a plurality of substantially identical elongated building block members having substantially parallel upper and lower surfaces for abutting vertically adjacent ones of said building block members, vertical rabbets in the ends of said building block members adapted for jointing with the ends of horizontally abutting ones of said building block members selectively in a line to form a wall or at an angle to form a corner, vertically extending apertures in each of said building block members aligned with corresponding apertures in vertically adjacent ones of said building block members, tie rod means rigidly secured in said base foundation and adapted to engage said aligned apertures in said building block members, means including said tie rod means for placing said vertically adjacent ones of said building block members under compression, and a continuous bond beam included in said compression means extending around the perimeter of said building construction and abutting the upper surface of the uppermost building block members, said bond beam having vertically extending apertures therein aligned with corresponding apertures in said building block members for engaging said tie rod means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 540,084 5/1895 Abruzzo 52270 1,809,508 6/1931 Colby 4625 1,608,273 11/1926 Glasgow 4619 1,899,450 2/1933 Bali 52284 1,910,326 5/1933 Ford 52285 2,291,712 8/1942 Hatton 52227 2,563,703 8/1951 Bonney 52-284 FOREIGN PATENTS 49,674 7/1921 Sweden.

426,535 4/1935 Great Britain.

571,186 8/1945 Great Britain.

880,934 7/ 1949 Germany.

JOHN E. MU'RTAGH, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

